Separability of Tones and Rhymes in Chinese Speech Perception: Evidence from Perceptual Migration

The present study uses the perceptual-migration paradigm to explore whether Chinese tones and rhymes are encoded separately during Mandarin speech perception. Following the logic of illusory conjunctions, we calculated the cross-ear migration rates of tones, rhymes, and their combination in Chinese and English listeners. For Chinese listeners, we found that tones migrated more than rhymes. The opposite pattern was found for English listeners. These results suggest that tones are registered separately from their tone-bearing rhyme in Chinese listeners, but they have no independent representation in speakers of nontonal languages. The results lend support to autosegmental theory, which claims separability and mobility between tonal and segmental representations.